Gareth Steenson, assistant coach of the Ireland women’s rugby team, has praised the range of GAA skills among members of the World Cup squad as they prepare for Saturday’s final tournament warm-up against world number two side Canada in Belfast.
Steenson, who won two Premiership titles and a Champions Cup during a 12-year stint with the Exeter Chiefs, said the handling and kicking of those with a GAA background has been a huge boon to the side.
“It’s one thing I’ve noticed massively since I’ve come back, having been away in England for so many years,” said the Armagh-born former outhalf.
“The GAA players, the skill level right across the board, the high-ball skills, all those elements. It’s fantastic to have that in the locker and a lot of the girls actually have that.”
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Ireland outhalf Dannah O’Brien is expected to face a physical Canadian side, who played a kicking game last year when the sides met in the WXV1 tournament, with Canada winning 21-8.
Irish players were shown two yellow cards in the match, a discipline issue they will not wish to repeat.
“The girls have come a long way since that game,” said Steenson. “I’ve been here a year and working with the girls and the evolvement of how they’ve performed . . . ultimately when we went across into that competition, kicking was a big part of what our DNA was. We’ve been developing that the last year.
“But from Dannah’s point of view, it probably gets highlighted a little bit more because she’s obviously a player in the position that she’s playing.
“For us, it’s about developing and getting her understanding of when it’s best to use it, how to use it and when it becomes a little bit more of where we’re actually looking and kicking at spaces and parts of the field, all that sort of thing. So, I’ve noticed since being here that her understanding has developed massively.”
England are the top-ranked team in the world with Canada second, New Zealand third, France fourth and Ireland in fifth place.
Although he knows what strengths Canada will bring to the newly monikered Affidea Stadium at noon on Saturday, Steenson hopes it will be a different, more polished Irish team that lines out for the final warm-up match before meeting Japan in Franklin’s Gardens on August 24th for the first pool match of the World Cup.
“Obviously, Canada are going to bring a lot of threats across the board, whether it be the kicking game, whether it be their physicality and everything they can bring,” he said.
“We’re going to look to use that potential to have that in the back-burner, but we also have a few other tricks up the sleeve when required.”
